Food items such as large cuts of meat, sides of beef, hams, bacon bellies, cheeses, cans of food in a canning operation and the like are commonly processed at the manufacturing plant on a continuous conveyor system, with the items being continuously conveyed between treatment and operating stations. It is often necessary to conduct tests on such items during treatment to determine that the particular treatment is being successfully conducted. This may entail penetration of the items with a probe, an operation not easily accomplished on a moving, suspended solid item.
For example, it is common to cook bacon bellies in this manner, by moving them continuously through a cooking oven whilst freely suspended from a continuously moving overhead conveyor. While in the oven, it is desirable to test the internal temperature of the bacon belly with a probe, to ensure that suitable cooking is being accomplished. It is common current practice to conduct this temperature testing manually, with an operator inserting a temperature probe into sample bacon bellies after they emerge from the oven. Such labour intensive operations are undesirable. In addition, manual handling of meat products during preparation should be minimized, for sanitary reasons, and for operator safety considerations. Temperature testing during passage through the oven, as well as after emergence from the oven, is preferable to temperature testing after emergence from the oven alone.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel automated holding and probing apparatus for food products, which reduces these disadvantages and drawbacks.